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Namco Bandai recently showed off some of its upcoming and highly anticipated titles at the Namco Bandai Games Showcase in LA. Because I don't live all that far from the major city, I got the opportunity to drive out there and preview some unreleased titles. Suffice it to say, being stuck in traffic and dealing with all of the law-violating denizens of L.A. was well worth it, because I got a good glimpse at some of Namco Bandai's intriguing titles set for release later this year and in 2012.
The first game I got my anxious paws on was Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Impact. I had never played a Naruto game before, so I didn't really know what to expect. I was very glad to find myself pleasantly surprised, though. As a fan of the rare 3D beat 'em up, I found the brawling gameplay in Ultimate Ninja Impact to be very satisfying and intuitive. I was delivering effective combos on my enemies through simple combinations and even performing some awesome special moves, which resulted in crazy cutscenes and insane amounts of damage. The screen was constantly filled with opponents, and taking them down was incredibly satisfying. I was told that up to 100 characters could fill the screen, so Ultimate Ninja Impact should make for a hectic good time.
The Namco Bandai representative explained to me that the game follows the Naruto storyline closely, so there's plenty of fan service for gamers who enjoy the anime. Additionally, because this is a PSP game, some individuals may initially think that the controls of past entries in the series might not translate accordingly on the handheld. I was told that this would not be the case, and that the controls from the past console titles would translate smoothly onto the PSP. Though I haven't played any of the past Naruto games, I can easily attest to the fact that Ultimate Ninja Impact controlled exceptionally well.
PSP owners can expect Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Impact to land on October 18. The game will be available on UMD and for digital download on the PlayStation Network.
The next title I got the chance to check out was Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi. Gamers who have played past entries in the series should know what to expect with the upcoming entry in terms of gameplay. That's not to say there isn't enough content here to warrant some excitement from fans, though. Ultimate Tenkaichi offers high-impact, heavy-hitting fighting mechanics, and it throws in some crazy combos and a ton of style.
The game's story mode should offer plenty of fan service for longtime fans of the Dragon Ball Z anime. What I enjoyed the most was the seemless integration of fights and storytelling. Upon delivering a beating to my opponents, I was treated to some stylish story sequences that offered all of the over-the-top shenanigans and dramatic happenings that Dragon Ball Z is known for.
I was also given a quick briefing on the game's Hero Mode, which is basically a character creator that allows you to build and tweak your very own fighters. Not only can players give their characters a snazzy physical appearance, but they can also make a tough brawler by assigning a number of high-impact moves. If you ever wanted to create your very own Dragon Ball Z character and see how he handles himself within the series' universe, this will be your chance.
Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi is set to launch on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on October 25. If you've been following the series closely, be sure to watch out for this one.
I took a break from all the heavy-hitting anime action and decided to check out some mobile games. The first was Sky Gamblers: Rise of Glory, an air combat game for iOS platforms. Players must control their air fighters using tilt mechanics in coordination with an onscreen digital analog stick. This took some getting used to, and I never completely got the hang of it during my short session with the game, but I could definitely tell that if gamers invest enough time into it, they'll be able to get the controls down with nary a problem.
As I was flying through the air, I was instructed to reach a checkpoing on the map. Upon reaching the checkpoint, I engaged in an aerial battle against enemy fighters who wanted nothing more than to see me blow up to a thousand pieces. By tilting the iPad and using the onscreen analog stick, I was able to adjust and get those clowns in my sights, ultimately delivering an onslaught of bullets and blowing them to bits. Needless, to say, it was pretty damn enjoyable.
No release date or price point was given to me for Sky Gamblers: Rise of Glory, but I was told that the main campaign would feature 18 environments. There will also be a competitive eight-player online component, which should pique the interest of iPad and iPhone owners looking to engage in some air-based combat.
The second mobile game I checked out was Mad Tracks, a good old-fashioned weapons-based kart racer. Unlike Sky Gamblers, this game didn't feature tilt controls and instead opted for a more traditional control scheme. Using the onscreen analog stick and face buttons, I raced through a couple of tracks full of tight turns and aggressive drivers. I also fell off the track … a lot. In my defense, though, I've never really gamed on an iPad, so I was trying to get used to the onscreen controls.
Overall, I would say Mad Tracks will definitely appeal to gamers who enjoy gaming on mobile devices, and with a four-player local and online multiplayer, this will give kart racing enthusiasts something worth checking out. Mad Tracks doesn't have a set release date yet, but it is expected to land later this fall.
Next up, I got to check out a game I've been super stoked about: Tales of Graces f. According to Namco Bandai, this title will stay true to the tropes that put the Tales series on the map, but it will also feature some engaging new elements. Players will be able to control a party of four characters, all of which are said to play differently from one another. Additionally, you'll be able to upgrade different skills as you so choose, which means you'll be able to build a party of characters that differ greatly from one another and serve specific purposes for battle such as magic, healing, long-range offense, and straight-up power.
What really caught my attention in Tales of Graces f was the inclusion of four-player local co-op. RPGs are known for being strict single-player affairs, but Tales of Graces f will invite multiple players to plow through the game's quest as a team. It's cool having a party of characters and being able to control them all, but there's a ton of promise in having your friends right next to you so you can shout at them when they screw up or call for help when you need to be healed.
The co-op component will be drop-in/drop-out, so at any given time, new players can join in to help their buddies. And if one player falls in battle, the computer AI will take over that player slot, which is great because if one player decides not to play anymore (and ditches his pal), player one won't have to fumble between two controls to switch the other player back to the AI.
Like many of you, I can't wait to play the full version of Tales of Graces f. Unfortunately, I wasn't given a specific release date or launch window, but I was informed that the game would hit PlayStation 3 consoles next year.
My time with the Tales series didn't end there, though. Immediately after checking out Tales of Graces f, I got some hands-on time with Tales of the Abyss for the 3DS. As fans of the series will be aware, Tales of the Abyss was originally a PlayStation 2 title, and it is now being remade for Nintendo's current handheld. The game played like a tried and true RPG. As I explored a large overworld area, I frequently encountered different types of enemies. Battles were quick and enjoyable, and slashing away at enemies was a great deal of fun.
In terms of the graphics, Tales of the Abyss is on par with other portable RPGs. The detail isn't too massive, but the added 3D provided a nice stylish touch. That said, I happen to enjoy the 3D effect of Nintendo's portable device. It's highly likely that a lot of other gamers will shut it off completely. Still, it's good to know it's there, and seeing my stats screens pop up in front of my characters was pretty cool-looking.
Like Tales of Graces f, Tales of the Abyss is likely to launch sometime in 2012. Oh, Namco Bandai, you really want to keep us wondering, don't you?
One game I didn't get too much time with but did manage to catch a decent glimpse of was Ridge Racer: Unbounded. From the looks of it, Unbounded seems to be delivering another proper Ridge Racer experience. That said, the urban environment adds a darker tone to the series and will likely provide a different overall vibe.
Visually, the game looks excellent, and it's great to see another good-looking racer headed to consoles. One thing that really caught my attention was the destructibility of the game's environments and cars. That's one of the features Namco Bandai seems to be promoting heavily, and it's good to see some cool physics and particle effects thrown into what will likely be an insane, fast-paced racer.
The last game I took for a spin was Inversion, a promising title that looks to provide a unique spin on the cover-based shooter. In terms of environments and gameplay, Inversion reminded me a lot of Gears of War. Its hook, however, quickly set it apart from the acclaimed shooter franchise. Inversion features a gravity gun that allows you to manipulate the debris around you. By using it on a large piece of crumbled wall, for example, you can employ this debris as cover, while hitting the fire trigger will launch it forward, causing it to act as a projectile. Pretty nifty!
To add to the awesomeness of the gravity gun, I was told that the weapon could also be used on enemies. I tried it out for myself and had a total blast as I watched bad guys floating helplessly, only to be picked off by my co-op partner and I. According to the Namco Bandai rep, there will be three types of environmental gravity forces, each varying in strength, which should provide some interesting results. Players will be able to utilize the gravity gun to create cover for themselves and send enemies slamming down onto the floor. And with the hectic levels that sometimes flip and cause you to explore different areas, you can expect a lot of quick thinking and on-the-go action.
Inversion will feature local and online two-player co-op, as well as 16-player multiplayer modes, which should definitely appeal to shooter fans. The game is set to launch on February 7 next year, so stay tuned for more info as we get closer to launch.
Namco Bandai definitely has some interesting things in store for launch this year and next year. There's plenty of fan service with titles like Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi and Tales of Graces f. And with Inversion offering something new for cover-based shooters, Namco Bandai seems to be doing some notable experimentation, as well. A big thanks to everyone involved for allowing me to preview a few of the company's upcoming games on behalf of GameZone. Oh, and a huge thanks for the delicious complimentary brownies. Those things were delicious!


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With the Dodd-Frank clearing mandate approaching, market participants are looking for more capital efficient alternatives for their OTC activity.
Deliverable Swap Futures (DSF) may provide a solution for those looking to obtain interest rate swap exposure, but who want the efficiencies and margin savings of standardized Futures contracts. DSFs can be executed across multiple venues like electronically via CME Globex, via block trades, or open outcry in the trading pits, and at expiration of the future, all open positions deliver into CME Cleared Interest Rate Swaps. DSFs were created based on client demand from both buy and sell side firms, and we have a strong amount of support from market participants heading into the launch.
CFO magazine summed this up when writing about DSFs in November:
"Centrally cleared swaps and now futures products will provide nonfinancial companies more options for hedging interest-rate risk. And that's a good thing, because, although bilateral OTC interest-rate swaps aren't going away, they could get more expensive."
We are at a new time in the market with a changing regulatory environment. These are often the times that provide the most opportunity for innovation to meet new demand. Tom Lee, senior portfolio manager and principal of The Clifton Group is one such market participant who sees value in the new product. We decided to ask him a few questions about how he sees DSFs working in the new environment.
Does the current regulatory environment make deliverable swap futures more attractive than some of the OTC alternatives?
In the centralized clearing world we are moving towards, there is a material margin requirement associated with OTC interest rate swaps. Deliverable swap futures have significantly lower margin requirements than OTC interest rate swaps when they are centrally cleared. The reduction in required margin gives deliverable swap futures an enormous advantage over centrally cleared OTC interest rate swaps.
Can you describe a client or situation that would benefit from using DSFs as opposed to other futures or swaps products?
We have clients that are margin constrained. For example, pension clients often need duration to hedge their estimated liabilities but lack large pools of qualified collateral. With centralized clearing, they will be challenged to hold interest rate swaps due to the associated collateral requirements. Treasury futures offer one solution but, depending on spreads, they may not always offer the best solution. Deliverable swap futures provide a viable alternative for gaining swap exposure in a capital efficient manner.
How are you talking to your clients about the product?
We most definitely are speaking with clients about using deliverable swap futures. As more clients come to understand the capital requirements associated with centrally cleared swaps, their interest in deliverable swap futures will grow.
What else do you want to share about the new contract?
I think swap futures have the potential to be very successful. Previous attempts to develop a liquid swap futures market achieved modest levels of success. Liquidity never reached escape velocity. This contract is different. As noted, it currently provides a significant capital advantage over centrally cleared swaps. Additionally, the ability to take delivery should increase the efficiency of the calendar rolls, a problem with previous swap contracts.
Watch Sean Tully, CME Group managing director of interest rate products, and Pete Barker, executive director of interest rate products, discuss what the launch of Deliverable Interest Rate Swap Futures means for customers.

subset: commoncrawl


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House Speaker John Boehner, chairman of the Republican National Convention, says both conventions and party platforms would be better if they were shorter.
Mr. Boehner, the top-ranking Republican in Washington, was dismissive of the party platform that was completed last week under the direction of Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, the Republican Party platform chair.
"Have you ever met anybody who has read the party platform? I've not ever met anybody. It ought to be on one sheet of paper. And guess what? I was on this kick about at least eight or 12 years ago that we ought to have a one-page party platform, and that way Americans could actually read it. Might be willing to – might."
Appearing relaxed in a sports coat but no tie, Boehner met with reporters for lunch hosted by the Monitor at a Tampa, Fla.-area restaurant.
The Republican platform was in the news last week because the group drafting the document met after Missouri Rep. Todd Akin made controversial comments about rape. The 2012 GOP platform contains a plank calling for banning abortions without including a specific exception in the case of rape or incest.
Boehner also joined those who say the actual business done at conventions is spread over too many days. "These are very expensive propositions to put on. I think that given as much news as people get today and the way they get their news, I'm not sure that having a four-day convention for the future makes a lot of sense."
The current GOP convention in Tampa was shortened from four days to three when tropical storm Isaac swept past the waterside city. Party Chairman Reince Priebus called the convention to order at 2 p.m. Monday and then immediately recessed. The convention will resume on Tuesday with Isaac threatening to make landfall near New Orleans.
Boehner opened the gathering with reporters by stressing his commitment to retaining the Republicans' majority in the House. "My goal is [to] gain seats," he said. "We're on offense and I'm going to keep our team on offense all the way through Election Day."
When the speaker was asked what could be done to improve the public's view of Congress, he offered a spirited defense of his colleagues of both parties that was laced with humor.
"Congress has been America's favorite whipping boy for 200 years and I don't think that's going to change anytime soon. And then secondly, with 435 members and on any given day some of them are out doing things they probably shouldn't be doing. It's a fact," he said.
But Boehner added, "I know my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. And while there may be differences between some Democrats and Republicans … 99 percent of my colleagues are decent, honest people trying to do the right thing for the country. But we work in a setting that makes it very difficult for people to see that."
• Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.


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Thursday, October 01, 2020
Women in Area C come together to resist recurring Israeli demolitions
Ruth Regan
- February 05, 2018
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"The biggest resistance is not setting tyres on fire or throwing stones, but improving your own livelihood. It's also the hardest," says Fatima Alwahesh, head of the women's committee in Jubbet ad-Dhib, a Palestinian village near Bethlehem of about 170 people.
Jubbet ad-Dhib falls in Area C, the 60 percent of the West Bank under full Israeli control. Its proximity to The Herodium, a cone-shaped hill where the remains of Herod's fortress stand, places the village under intense surveillance. Like other Palestinian villages in Area C, they are unable to get building permits and develop their community.
Jubbet ad-Dhib made the headlines last summer after its new EU-sponsored primary school was demolished the night before the new school year, without any court order. A tent was put up in its place, but more as a sign of defiance than a practical solution, as four grades were crowded together into one tent.
Palestinians activists then worked over a single night to rebuild the school. Starting their work at 11 p.m. the building was up by 8 a.m. the following morning.
This incident came shortly after the illegal confiscation of the village's solar panels and only source of power, installed by the NGO Comet-ME. Ten days after the rebuilding of the school, the lights turned back on in Jubbet ad-Dhib after the Dutch government, which sponsored the panels, filed a case against the Israeli administration for their illegal removal.
Behind the scenes of this cat-and-mouse game of construction and destruction are a group of powerful Palestinian women who represent a change in traditional administration for this village.
Hamed Qawasmeh, a community worker who has worked closely with the village since 2007, explains women are most active in village life in Jubbet ad-Dhib and therefore face the brunt of the burdens, as the men leave for work across the border at 4 a.m. and come back late. About 70% of the village work in the Israeli labour market.
Following a workshop by the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS), the women decided to set up their own council committee.
"PMRS visited us and decided to do a mobile clinic. They came to give us training about women's rights, caring for children and old people, cancer care and capacity building," she said. "So we formed a committee for the village." Fadia Alwahsh, 39, a member of the committee, explains.
"After we formed the committee we renewed two wells. It was a big achievement for us and for the village. We then had another five built to collect rainwater. Then we developed a tailors, a supermarket, a library and a business in renting out construction materials like a cement mixer and a crane."
"We still needed electricity and water. Our life was very difficult and we hoped for any organisation to come to help us solve our problems, but no one came. But the trainings gave us skills and power to demand our rights, and to push organisations to visit us."
After gaining, losing and finally regaining two fundamental human rights, electricity and education, the proactive women were bolstered in belief in their ability to commandeer change.
"This [the solar panels] was the biggest achievement for us. We saved energy through the sun."
"Life before electricity was very hard. We faced many difficulties like having to wash clothes by hand. Daylight is long and we had nothing to do. No TV, no internet. Keeping food was difficult without fridges. Thank God we have it now."
When expressing their village's needs they do so confidently, arms folded and a serious expression across their faces. "This village is a model of how investing in a community is the most powerful method of non-violent resistance," Alwahesh said.
"These women are so proactive. Nothing happened here for years and now they've formed this committee and boom," Tajna, a volunteer of Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) also visiting the village remarked.
Initially, the reactions of the men of Jubbet ad-Dhib towards the womens actions were sceptical.
"They [the men] were against our participation in the workshops. But when they saw our achievements, they saw things they couldn't achieve as men. Their minds were changes and they were able to support us," Alwahsh explained.
Even so, the threat of destruction still looms in Jubbet ad-Dhib.
Qawasmeh explains "The women would have liked to see a playground for the school but have been advised by a lawyer that adding anything to the building would violate their injunction and risk demolition (once again) of the entire school."
Children in Jubbet Ad-Dhib making their way home from a school rebuilt overnight by activists after it was demolished by the IDF. The closest school used to be 3KM away, in another village, now it is just 200M.
Qawasmeh also works in other Area C communities across the south Hebron Hills facing the same difficulties in access to infrastructure and development permits.
Zuweidin is a Bedouin village, which until 2016 had one co-ed school. Due to the conservative nature of the community, girls were being taken out of school from the fifth grade onwards, as parents did not want them studying with their male peers after this age.
The community sought a solution in order to continue to provide the girls with an education. But as an Area C village they were unable to obtain a permit to build a new school. Palestinian construction is limited to less than 1% of Area C.
by the European Parliament outlines:
'Construction is banned in 31% of Area C (reserved for military use, nature reserves, barrier 'buffer zone'). Another 39% of the area remains under the jurisdiction of local or regional Israeli settlement councils. In the remaining 29% — which represents 18% of the West Bank as a whole — a military permit regime practically eliminates the possibility of obtaining building permits.'
Instead, a solution was found in the form of an empty home rented from owners who had moved out of the area. They gained permission from the Palestinian Ministry of Education to open a school here.
Since then, organisations such as the Amos Trust have fundraised to extend the school from serving just grades five through to nine, all the way up to the 12th.
The extensions have come in the form of caravans, common workarounds in this region as they can be put up quickly and are thus less likely to be confiscated by Israeli forces in the process.
Zuweidin Girls' School is ran by Head-teacher Amina Da'ajneh.
"95 girls study here at the moment but as you can see, the school is growing all the time," she said, gesturing to two new, half-complete classrooms sponsored by World Vision.
"It was such a joy to experience the energy and optimism from both teachers and students here, despite poverty and harassment from nearby Israeli settlements and the Israeli military occupation. There is an on-going effort in this area to force the Palestinians out of their villages into the city of Yatta. All the communities we met are determined to resist this forcible displacement. Developing local girls' education is part of that resistance," explained Jenny Derbyshire, a volunteer from Ireland who fundraised for Zuweidin school.
A similar story has unfolded in the close-by village Zif.
"When the Girls' school was erected on May 2, 2016, it wasn't expected that the girls would make use of it until the new school year in September. It was intended to teach just the girls from grades five to ten. On May 3, the day after it was built, every single girl, grades one and up, turned up at the gates" Qawasmeh remembers smiling.
Before the new school opened, 102 girls in Zif were going to school. By March 2017 the number attending had swollen to 130. It is now 165.
Qawasmeh notes that the boys were dominating the outdoor space at the previously co-ed Zif school. "The girls were isolated and not involved in playing sports or games. At their new school, teachers describe 'a transformation'. They've really come out of their shells."
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Ponting retiring doesn't mean Sachin also has to quit: Gambhir
Indian opener Gautam Gambhir does not feel Sachin Tendulkar should follow in Ricky Ponting's footsteps and retire just yet.
Ricky Ponting's decision to call it quits today might have added fuel to the fire in the raging debate over Sachin Tendulkar's retirement, but India opener Gautam Gambhir feels his senior teammate still has a lot to offer.
"Nobody can force anyone to retire. Each individual knows when is the best time to retire. Ponting retiring doesn't mean that Sachin also has to quit now. It's an individual decision. They are from two different countries, two different individuals. So there is no question of a comparison," Gambhir said.
At a time when the 39-year-old Mumbaikar's place in the team has been questioned by critics, Gambhir went to the extent of saying that Tendulkar still has the "capability to make lots of runs for India".
"His presence in the dressing room itself is a big thing for the country. I am sure he will come out of it. Everybody goes through ups and downs. It's the sheer joy of playing the game, he loves playing. "He is the greatest cricketer India has produced. Not just on the field, as a mentor he contributes off the field too. He still has the capability to make lots of runs for India," Gambhir said at an event here.
Coming back to Ponting, who today announced that he will retire from Test cricket after playing in the third Test against South Africa in Perth, Gambhir called him Australia's "best ever captain".
"He is a legend of the game. He has played cricket on his own terms, he is retiring on his own terms. His record in all three formats speaks for itself. He has been Australia's most successful captain ever."
Gambhir came out in support of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and saw nothing wrong in the skipper asking for a turning wicket.
"A captain should get the kind of wicket he wants. There is nothing wrong in it. We all should support him instead of making it an issue. If he thinks he can win on a particular sort of wicket we should support him. "After all he is your captain and he will only think about victory. All the former captains would ask for turners. I think during Mohammad Azharuddin's time we used to play on turning tracks, nobody had raised a question then."
The Delhi player also felt that he and his teammates should not be blamed all the time for defeat. "What amazes me is that we never appreciate the opposition. We should also praise the opposition rather than criticise our own players."
"The opposition does play good cricket. They are not here to just make up the numbers. The series is tied 1-1, we haven't lost it yet and we can still come back. Any country can bounce back today," said Gambhir.
Asked how crucial was his second-inning half century in the Mumbai Test from his career's point of view, Gambhir said, "Any knock is important for me. Every run I score for my country is very satisfying.
On the English spinners' performance in Mumbai Test, he said, "They bowled very well, both (Graeme) Swann and (Monty) Panesar, but that doesn't mean we can't tackle spin well."
"England can win anywhere, they have got the quality in batting and bowling. But remember we were world number 1 and have won Test matches in Australia, South Africa. "We are looking forward to the Kolkata Test. We need to be positive. Would look to dominate them."
Gambhir was here as the face of the Hindustan Times' 'You Read, They Learn' campaign where he played cricket with the kids and talked more about his contribution to the project. "Kids have to go to school for overall development, discipline.
"My biggest motivation is to contribute something for my country, like educating the kids so that they can take their own decisions," said Gambhir.
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How to Say White in Azerbaijani
Categories: Colors
If you want to know how to say white in Azerbaijani, you will find the translation here. We hope this will help you to understand Azerbaijani better.
Here is the translation and the Azerbaijani word for white:
ağ Edit
Dictionary Entries near white
Check out other translations to the Azerbaijani language:
Browse Words Alphabetically


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Aww that is really cute!!
When it seems the magic slipped away...
We find it all again on Christmas Day.
*Seeing isn't believing.Believing is seeing.*
thats lovely merry...
That's so cute
Merry Snowy Christmas
Love & Peace to the World
Good on you for starting early! I should get in the habit of doing that and I think the figurine is adorable.
"It isn't the holly, it isn't the snow. It isn't the tree, not the firelight's glow. It's the warmth that comes to the hearts of men then the Christmas spirit returns again." - Unknown
Great. it's very nice.
Hi everyone! I want to tell you few words about my inspirations for Christmas gifts, searching the internet I found very nice page called YouArtMe, its a Project co-financed by the European Development Fund of the Operational Programme Innovative Economy, and there are many intresting and original ideas for gifts. For example, cups, cork'o'mats, cork'o'pads, pillows and puzzles!
Check it out!
We begin our shopping today! Wish me luck! Hehe
"Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth..."


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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Supreme Court threw its legal weight behind a Thai student whose side business selling foreign-made textbooks got him in trouble with the publisher.
The justices ruled 6-3 Tuesday that copyrighted works made and purchased abroad can then be resold within the United States without the copyright owner's permission.
The ruling is a victory for those who buy and sell books, movies, music, and artwork, and perhaps even furniture, electronics, automobiles, and clothing -- anything that may be considered "intellectual property."
Storefront and at-home secondary retailers, libraries, artistic venues -- even the local garage sale -- would also be affected.
Justice Stephen Breyer, writing for the majority, said to rule otherwise would create financial chaos, citing public libraries as an example.
"How can they find, say, the copyright owner of a foreign book, perhaps written decades ago?" he said. "Are the libraries to stop circulating or distributing the millions of books in their collections that were printed abroad?"
The legal dispute had attracted interest from the Obama administration, media and publishing companies, and a range of consumer and retail groups.
Competing claims of intellectual property and owners rights in the electronic age made Supap Kirtsaeng's venture one of the most closely watched business cases at the high court this term. He bought textbooks abroad, where the prices are lower, and resold them in the United States.
The high court considered the limits of two key interpretations of copyright law -- the "first sale doctrine" and its complex relationship to foreign distribution rights.
The first sale doctrine generally gives copyright holders the ability to profit only from the original sale.
It essentially means once a person lawfully buys a Peter Max lithograph or an Adele music CD in the United States, that person then can sell that copyrighted work in the United States without punishment and without having to compensate the original copyright holder.
It ensures a distribution chain of retail items, library lending, gift giving and rentals for a range of intellectual property. That stream of commerce includes secondary markets like flea markets and online resellers Craigslist and eBay.
The idea -- upheld by the Supreme Court since 1908 -- is that once a copyright holder legally sells a product, the ownership claim is exhausted, giving the buyer the power to resell, destroy, donate, or whatever. It's a limited idea, involving only a buyer's distribution right, not the power to reproduce that DVD or designer dress for sale.
The tricky part is whether that first sale doctrine applies to material both manufactured and first purchased outside the United States.
Breyer said it does: "The upshot is that copyright-related consequences, along with language, context, and interpretative canons, argue strongly against a geographical interpretation."
John Wiley & Sons, the publishing firm that sued Kirtsaeng, argued it readily sells its products overseas at a cheaper price -- particularly to countries in Asia, the Middle East and Latin America -- to satisfy an audience that may have less income than in the States or Europe.
Such differences in worldwide prices are often exploited by retail and resale firms, especially on high-end luxury and specialized items. Known as parallel sales or the "gray market" -- foreign-made goods obtained through second-hand sources -- the strategy costs manufacturers tens of billions of dollars a year, according to some business-generated estimates.
The case is Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (11-697).


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Fujifilm Finepix HS20 EXR Review
The Fuji Finepix HS20 EXR is an SLR-styled ultra-zoom with one of the most versatile zoom ranges. Its 30X optical zoom lens has an amazing 24-720mm equivalent range, starting ultra-wide and reaching beyond most super-telephoto lenses. The lens is mechanically-linked for smooth, quick and precise control. Like most ultra-zooms of a similar form-factor, the HS20 EXR has a complete of manual controls.
Like its predecessor, this digital camera is based on a BSI-CMOS sensor that has been upgraded to 16 megapixels and enhanced with Fuji's unique EXR technology. This lets it keep high-speed features while allowing triple-mode operation to capture high-resolution, high dynamic-range or low noise images.
Externally, the HS20 EXR looks exactly like the HS10. Internally, it uses the same sensor as the much smaller F550 EXR. Being the new Fuji flagship, the HS20 is very feature rich and includes all the features of the F550 EXR except for the built-in GPS. Compared to the HS10, a few high-speed features where slightly downgraded, most likely to keep up with a sensor that outputs 60% more pixels. Most notably the top speed at full-resolution is now 8 FPS instead of 10 FPS and the top video recording speed if 320 FPS down from 1000 FPS.
Headline Features of the Fuji Finepix HS20 EXR
- 16 Megapixels EXR CMOS sensor
- ISO Range from 100 to 3200 at 16 MP
- ISO 6400 at 8 MP and ISO 12800 at 4 MP
- Auto or Set Dynamic Range up to 400% at 16 MP
- HD Video Recording at 1920x1080 @ 30 FPS
- High-speed Video from 80 to 320 FPS
- 8 FPS Continuous Drive at 16 MP, 8 JPEG / 6 RAW
- 11 FPS Continuous Drive at 8 MP, 16 JPEG
- 1/4000-30s Shutter-Speed, Plus Bulb
- Full Manual Controls
- Multi-Segment, Center-Weighed & Spot Metering
- AEB Bracketing, 3 frames, 1/3-1 EV stops
- Auto, Preset and Custom White-Balance
- White-Balance Fine-Tuning, 2-axis, 7-steps
- Provia, Velvia, Astia, B&W, Sepia Film Simulation
- 360-Degree Panorama Sweep
- Multi-Frame Pro Low-Light & Pro Focus Modes
- 30X Ultra-Wide Angle Mechanical Optical Zoom
- Built-In Image Stabilization
- 1-Axis Digital Level
- Hot-Shoe for External Flashes
- Tiltable 3" LCD 460K Pixels
- 0.2" EVF 200K Pixels
- Eye-Start Sensor
- Powered by 4 AA Batteries
- SXDC Memory Cards
Resolution Priority (EXR-HR)
- 16 Megapixels
- Auto ISO up to 800
- Fixed 100% Dynamic range
- 4s Min Shutter-Speed
Dynamic-Range Priority (EXR-DR)
- 8 Megapixels, Two-Stage Read-Out
- Auto ISO up to 3200
- Selectable 100% to 1600% Dynamic Range
- Automatic Dynamic Range up to 1600%
- 4s Min Shutter-Speed
Low-Noise Priority (EXR-SN)
- 8 Megapixels, Binned Read-Out
- Auto ISO up to 3200
- Fixed 100% Dynamic Range
- 4s Min Shutter-Sped
Auto EXR
- Automatic Resolution, Fixed 8 MP or Fixed 4 MP
- Full-Time AF-C Only
- Auto ISO Only
- Auto Dynamic Range Only
- Auto Exposure without Compensation
- Multi-Segment Metering Only
- 1/4s Min Shutter-Speed
Suitability - What is it good for?
The Fuji Finepix HS20 EXR is defined by its unique lens. The huge range with built-in stabilization allows it to cover a range of photographic subjects like no other. Ultra-wide is perfect for architecture, landscapes, indoor shots and monuments. At the other extreme, a reach of 720mm makes it suitable for wildlife and even birding. To reach a similar range on a DSLR would require the use of a lens weighing several kilos and costing thousands of dollars. Needless to say, all other photo applications are covered: portraits, street photography, sports and more.
The mechanical-link allows smooth and quick framing of subjects. Notice that we did not say precise because the HS20 EXR suffers from a slightly cropped view-finder, so framing is not so exact. Having no zoom motor not only saves energy, it also produces completely silent zooming while filming video.
The Fuji Finepix HS20 EXR digital camera is designed for efficient access to its manual controls and offers a large number of buttons to directly control the camera without using the menu. This kind of efficiency that makes it usable in a hurry.
High-speed features such as 8 FPS drive mode and pre-capture makes it more usable that similar cameras for action. The low-light side of things is covered by its 100 to 3200 full-resolution ISO range which is suitable for most uses. At the extreme of low-light, the HS20 EXR stops being usable before its peers due to a slowest shutter-speed that is reduced by one stop for each ISO. At ISO 100, the HS20 EXR can take 30s exposures, at ISO 200 it gets reduced to 15s, by ISO 3200 the limit is a paltry 1s. We suspect this is the case because the noise-characteristics of the CMOS sensor would ruin images otherwise. While there is a Bulb mode, it offers exactly the same limit as manual exposure.
Pictures from the HS20 EXR can be printed nicely in sizes up to 20 "x15" thanks to 16 megapixels of resolution. Near the wide-angle end, the camera can focus as close as 1 cm using super-macro mode. The digital camera also allows control over the dynamic range it captures. Possible options go from 100% to 1600%, although these are not available at all modes and ISO settings. Increased dynamic-range may also reduce image quality in shadow areas.
Both storage and power use the most convenient and readily available formats: SDXC for memory and most types of AA batteries for power. The power meter can be tuned to a specific type of battery and the HS20 EXR can rejuvenate rechargeable batteries.
Capability - What can it do?
Beyond taking pictures in a large variety of conditions, it packs some useful and interesting features. Below is a list of its most useful features, followed by explanations, when required.
- Dynamic-Range: 100%-400% at 16 MP, 100%-1600% in EXR-DR mode at 8 MP
- White-Balance: Auto, 6 preset and custom, all fine-tunable in 7 steps on Red-Cyan and Blue-Yellow axis
- Metering: Multi-Segment, Spot and Average
- Focus Control: Single Autofocus (AF-S), Continuous Autofocus (AF-C), Manual Focus (MF)
- Autofocus Modes: Center, Multi-pointCamera chooses a point to focus on, AreaUser selects an area to focus on or Tracking
- Drive Modes: Single, First 8 Frames, Best-Frame, AEB, Dynamic-Range Bracket, Film-Simulation Bracket
- Self-Timers: 2s, 10s, Face-Detect
- PASM Exposure Modes
- Exposure compensation: +2 to -2 EV, in 1/3 EV increments
- Flash compensation: -2/3..+2/3, in 1/3 EV increments
- Exposure Bracket: 3 shots, 1/3, 2/3 or 1 EV increments
- Flash Modes: Auto, On, Off, Slow-Sync
- Face Detection: With or without redeye removal, optional face-recognition
- Sweeping panorama, 120°, 240° or 360°
- Pro Low-Light Mode, Multi-Frame Noise-Reduction
- Adjustable Color, Tone, Sharpness, Noise-Reduction, 3-steps each
- AE-L: Toggle or Hold
The Fuji Finepix HS20 EXR offers two methods of dynamic range expansion:
One method is called Highlight Correction and is available at all resolutions. The magic happens using the camera's processor to adjust the tone curve while actually exposing at a lower sensitivity. The consequence is that only a normal dynamic range is obtainable at ISO 100. One can boost the DR to 200% at ISO 200 and up to 400% DR can be captured at higher sensitivities. This gives two more stops of highlight headroom.
The other method, Dynamic-Range Priority (EXR-DR), is unique to EXR sensors and is available at half-resolution (8 MP). In this mode, the sensor uses pairs of adjacent pixels of the same color - which is possible by a special arrangements of the color-filer array - to form a single output pixel by reading one photosite partway during the exposure. This lets photosites be read before they saturate. This is clever trick needs a constant flow of light during exposure and therefore would not work with flash. With this approach the HS20 EXR can capture up to 1600% dynamic range, although we suspect it actually does Highlight Correction too to reach 1600%.
Color is controllable using Film Simulation and traditional Color (Saturation), Tone (Contrast) and Sharpness parameters. There are only 3 steps on each scale, so flexibility is limited. Film Simulation lets the photographer choose between five traditional film looks: Provia, Velvia, Astia, B&W and Sepia. The most natural results are obtained from Provia with Velvia and Astia giving over-saturated and under-saturated results, respectively. White-balance is very flexible. These is an automatic setting, 6 presets and a custom option. All these settings can be fine-tuned along 2 axis in 7 steps.
Best-frame-capture is a sophisticated mode to capture an ideal frame from continuous action. It starts working as soon as the shutter is pressed halfway, continuously capturing images of which only a few are stored, then adding more images after the shutter is fully pressed. The speed at which it does this is controllable between 3 and 8 FPS at 16 MP or up to 11 FPS @ 8 MP. The number of before and after frames is selectable, as long as the total is 8 images at 16 MP or 16 at 8 MP. So one can get 5 images before, 1 image during and 2 image after or 3 images before, 1 during and43 after, or any other combination which adds up to 8. There is a small but noticeable lag in this drive mode but it is clearly better than with most fixed-lens cameras. At least the display keeps up reasonably.
The 20 scene modes are divided into a set of 17 and a set of 2 and Sweep Panorama. Any of the 17 can be accessed by any of the to SP positions on the mode-dial. The next 2 are called Advanced Scene Modes: Pro Low-Light and Pro Focus. Pro Low-Light takes 4 images to combine them into one image with reduced noise. This is similar to what image software call stacking or multi-frame noise-reduction. Pro Focus combines two shots to simulate the background blur associated with fast lenses.
The Sweep Panorama mode is designed to capture a panorama continuously in any direction. The sweep angle can be set to 360°, 180° and 120°. The output is limited to 1080 pixels in landscape orientation and 1624 pixels wide in portrait mode, in the shortest dimension, giving at most an 11520 x 1624 panorama. Fuji greatly improved this mode since its early beginnings and the camera is capable of producing a panorama easily. The output can look impressive from a distance but is often full of stitching errors. Moving elements such as people and vehicles are very problematic. Close by objects also give it great difficulty.
Now, while Sweep Panorama has its issues, most people do not bother properly setting up their camera to manually stitch using a computer later. The trick is to have the patience for a lot of trails and errors. Movement must be done steadily and the camera kept level. If that sounds easy, it is not. At least the HS20 EXR stitches whatever it good up to the point where it could not go on. This means that the panorama may stop before the chosen angle-of-view has been swept. For some reason, it is also possible to do more and sweep around more than 360° which that camera happily stitches anyway. Just below is an example of over a Sweep Panorama spanning more than 360° with a rather good stitch. Note that ISO is always Auto in Sweep Panorama and in low-light it can go up to 3200.
Fujifilm HS20 EXR Highlights
Sensor-Size: 6 x 5mm
Actual size when viewed at 100 DPI
|16 Megapixels Ultra Zoom
|30X Mechanically Linked Ultra-Wide Optical Zoom
|Shutter 1/4000-30s
|Built-in Stabilization
|Full manual controls, including Manual Focus
|0.20" Built-in EVF 200K Pixels
|Custom white-balance
|Automatic Eye-Start sensor
|1 Axis Digital Level
|8 FPS Drive, 8 Images
|Standard AA Battery
|1920x1080 @ 30 FPS Video Recording
|Secure Digital Extended Capacity
|3" LCD 460K Pixels
Fujifilm X-T4 Review
Fujifilm APS-C flasghip mirrorless with 5-axis builtin stabilization mechanism using the same high-speed 26 MP X-Trans CMOS 4 sensor as the X-T3. New 15 FPS mechanical shutter and builtin HDR. Professional mirrorless with mechanical controls, dual control-dials, dual memory-card lots, a built EVF with Eye-Start Sensor and a huge feature set.
Canon RF-Lens Info
Info on all Canon native RF-mount lenses added to the Canon EOS R5 preview.
Canon EOS R5 Preview
Preview of the Canon EOS R5 flagship Full-Frame Mirrorless with 45 MP sensor on a 5-axis stabilization system effective to 8-stops. First 8K video capable digital camera. 20 FPS electronic and 12 FPS mechanical drive.
Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III Review
Third-Generation OM-D that packs a 20 MP Four-Thirds CMOS on a 5-Axis Stabilization System. Fast 121-Point Phase-Detect AF, 30 FPS Continuous Drive, Cinema 4K Video and more in a weatherproof and freezeproof body. Features dual control-dials and a builtin 2.4 MP EVF with Eye-Start Sensor with 0.69X magnification and 100% coverage.
Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III Review
20 MP Micro Four-Thirds Mirrorless with 7-Stop 5-Axis Image-Stabilization, 121-Point Phase-Detect AF 30 FPS Continuous Drive and Cinema 4K capability in a weatherproof and freezeproof body with dual control-dials and dual SDXC memory card slots.
M.Zuiko 12-45mm F/4 PRO Review
A review of the M.Zuiko 12-45mm F/4 PRO added to the Olympus Premium Lens Roundup.
Peak Design Travel Tripod Review
Review of the unique Peak Design Travel Tripod with its own ballhead and the universal ballhead adapter.
Nikon Z-Mount DX Lens Roundup
Review of Nikon Z-Mount lenses for APS-C mirrorless digital cameras. Covers all current Z-mount DX lenses available.
Nikon Z50 Review
The first Nikon APS-C mirrorless is built around a 20 MP BSI-CMOS sensor with ISO 100-204800, 209-Point Phase-Detect AF, 11 FPS Drive and 4K Video capability. Compact body with dual control-dials and 2.4 MP 0.39" EVF with 0.68X magnification, 100% coverage and an Eye-Start Sensor.
Mirrorless Digital Camera Buying Guide 2020
The Mirrorless Digital Camera Buying Guide was fully rewritten for 2020, including all new systems from Nikon, Canon and Leica joined by Panasonic and Sigma. This new extensive 2020 Edition shows in 5 simple steps how to choose a mirrorless camera.


text: I have a couple of Windows 7x64 Pro boxes that have been upgraded from 22.214.171.124.1 to 126.96.36.199.2. The mouse moves around but nothing happens when I click the Ctrl Alt Del button. I have uninstalled, cleaned up what I could find and reinstalled. I have uvnc running as a service. If I kill the service and run it as an application it works. What should I check?


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Tonsillectomy (ton-sih-LEK-tuh-me) is the surgical removal of the tonsils, two oval-shaped pads of tissue at the back of the throat — one tonsil on each side.
A tonsillectomy was once a common procedure to treat infection and inflammation of the tonsils (tonsillitis). Today, a tonsillectomy is usually performed for sleep-disordered breathing but may still be a treatment when tonsillitis occurs frequently or doesn't respond to other treatments.
A tonsillectomy may also be necessary to treat breathing and other problems related to enlarged tonsils and to treat rare diseases of the tonsils.
Recovery time for a tonsillectomy is usually at least 10 days to two weeks.
A tonsillectomy is used to treat:
Tonsils produce certain types of disease-fighting white blood cells. Therefore, the tonsils are believed to act as the immune system's first line of defense against bacteria and viruses that enter your mouth.
This function may make them particularly vulnerable to infection and inflammation. The problem is more common in children because the immune system function of tonsils is most active before puberty. Also, unlike an adult's immune system, a child's system has had less exposure to bacteria and viruses and has yet to develop immunities to them.
A tonsillectomy may be recommended to prevent frequent, recurring episodes of tonsillitis. Frequent is generally defined as:
The procedure may also be recommended if:
Tonsils may become enlarged after frequent or persistent infections, or they may be naturally large. A tonsillectomy may be used to treat the following problems caused or complicated by enlarged tonsils:
A tonsillectomy may also be used to treat other rare diseases or conditions of the tonsils, such as:
Tonsillectomy, like other surgeries, has certain risks:
You'll receive instructions from the hospital on how to prepare yourself or your child for a tonsillectomy.
Information you'll likely be asked to provide includes:
Instructions for preparing will include the following:
Questions to ask your doctor or the hospital staff for yourself or on behalf of your child include:
Tonsillectomy is usually done as an outpatient procedure. That means you'll be able to go home the day of the surgery. An overnight stay is possible if complications arise or if the surgery is done on a young child, or if you have a complex medical condition.
Because a tonsillectomy is performed under general anesthesia, you or your child won't be aware of the procedure or experience pain during the surgery.
The surgeon may cut out the tonsils using a blade (scalpel) or a specialized surgical tool that uses heat or high-energy heat or sound waves to remove or destroy tissues and stop bleeding.
Nearly everyone experiences pain after a tonsillectomy. Pain is most often in the throat and frequently in the ears but may also be located in the jaw or the neck.
Steps that you can take to reduce pain, promote recovery and prevent complications include the following:
Watch for the following complications that require prompt medical care:
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text:
Note: Most of the old FAQ entries have been removed as they are now covered at the Compute Canada level: https://docs.computecanada.ca/wiki/Frequently_Asked_Questions Some of the information on this page was moved to the Legacy Systems page.
- 1 About SHARCNET
- 2 Getting an Account with SHARCNET and Related Issues
- 3 Getting Help
- 3.1 I have encountered a problem while using a Compute Canada/SHARCNET system and need help, who should I talk to?
- 3.2 How long should I expect to wait for support?
- 3.3 Compute Canada Problem Ticket System
- 3.4 I am new to parallel programming, where can I find quick references at SHARCNET?
- 3.5 I am new to parallel programming, can you help me get started with my project?
- 3.6 Can you install a package on a cluster for me?
- 3.7 I am in a process of purchasing computer equipment for my research, would you be able to provide technical advice on that?
- 3.8 Does SHARCNET provide any training on programming and using the systems?
- 3.9 Attending SHARCNET Webinars
- 3.10 Unsubscribing from our mailing lists
- 4 Research at SHARCNET
- 4.1 I have a research project I would like to collaborate on with SHARCNET, who should I talk to?
- 4.2 How can I contribute compute resources to SHARCNET so that other researchers can share it?
- 4.3 I do not know much about computation, nor is it my research interest. But I am interested in getting my research done faster with the help of the high performance computing technology. In other words, I do not care about the process and mechanism, but only the final results. Can SHARCNET provide this type of help?
- 4.4 I need access to more CPU cores or storage than are available by default, what programs exist to support demanding computation?
- 4.5 I heard SHARCNET offers fellowships, where can I get more information?
- 4.6 I would like to do some research at SHARCNET as a visiting scholar, how should I apply?
- 4.7 I would like to send my students to SHARCNET to do some work for me. How should I proceed?
- 5 Contacting SHARCNET
- 6 How to Acknowledge SHARCNET in Publications
- 7 What types of research programs / support are provided to the research community?
About SHARCNET
What is SHARCNET?
SHARCNET stands for Shared Hierarchical Academic Research Computing Network. Established in 2000, SHARCNET is the largest high performance computing consortium in Canada, involving 18 universities and colleges across southern, central and northern Ontario.
SHARCNET is a member consortium in the Compute/Calcul Canada national HPC platform.
Where is SHARCNET?
The main office of SHARCNET is located in the Western Science Centre at The University of Western Ontario. The SHARCNET high performance clusters are installed at a number of the member institutions in the consortium and operated by SHARCNET staff across different sites.
What does SHARCNET have?
The primary SHARCNET compute system is the Graham heterogeneous cluster located at the University of Waterloo. It is named after Wes Graham, the first director of the Computing Centre at Waterloo. It consists of 36,160 cores and 320 GPU devices, spread across 1,127 nodes of different configurations.
What can I do with SHARCNET?
If you have a program that takes months to run on your PC, you could probably run it within a few hours using hundreds of processors on the SHARCNET clusters, provided your program is inherently parallelisable. If you have hundreds or thousands of test cases to run through on your PC or computers in your lab, then with hundreds of processors running those cases independently will significantly reduce your test cycles .
If you have used beowulf clusters made of commodity PCs, you may notice a performance improvement on SHARCNET clusters which have high-speed Infiniband interconnects, as well as SHARCNET machines which have large amounts of memory. Also, SHARCNET clusters themselves are connected through a dedicated, private connection over the Ontario Research Innovation Optical Network (ORION).
If you have access to other super computing facilities at other places and you wish to share your ideas with us and SHARCNET users, please contact us. Together we can make SHARCNET better.
Who is running SHARCNET?
The daily operation and development of SHARCNET computational facilities is managed by a group of highly qualified system administrators. In addition, we have a team of high performance technical computing consultants, who are responsible for technical support on libraries, programming and application analysis.
How do I contact SHARCNET?
For technical inquiries, you may send E-mail to email@example.com, or contact your local system administrator or HPC specialist. For general inquiries, you may contact the SHARCNET main office.
Getting an Account with SHARCNET and Related Issues
To use SHARCNET (and also Compute Canada) facilities one has to apply for a Compute Canada account.
Getting Help
I have encountered a problem while using a Compute Canada/SHARCNET system and need help, who should I talk to?
If you have access to the Internet, we encourage you to use the problem ticketing system (described in detail below) . This is the most efficient way of reporting a problem as it minimizes email traffic and will likely result in you receiving a faster response than through other channels.
You are also welcome to contact system administrators and/or high performance technical computing consultants at any time. You may find their contact information on the directory page.
How long should I expect to wait for support?
Unfortunately Compute Canada/SHARCNET does not have adequate funding to provide support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. User support and system monitoring is limited to regular business hours: there is no official support on weekends or holidays, or outside 9:00 - 17:00 EST .
Please note that this includes monitoring of our systems and operations, so typically when there are problems overnight or on weekends/holidays system notices will not be posted until the next business day.
Compute Canada Problem Ticket System
What is a "problem ticket system"?
This is a system that allows anyone with a Compute Canada account to start a persistent email thread that is referred to as a "problem ticket". When a user submits a new ticket it will be brought to the attention of an appropriate and available Compute Canada/SHARCNET staff member for resolution.
You can interact with the ticket system entirely via email. There is also a web interface to see tickets you have submitted in the past.
What do I need to specify in a ticket ?
To help us address your question faster, please try to do the following when submitting a ticket:
- specify which of our systems is involved
- if the problem pertains to a job, then report the jobid associated with the job; this is an integer that is returned by the scheduler when you submit the job
- report the exact commands necessary to duplicate the problem, as well as any error output that helps identify the problem; if relevant, this should include how the code is compiled, how the job is submitted, and/or anything else you are doing from the command line relating to the problem
- if you'd like for a particular staff member to be aware of the ticket, mention them
How do I submit a ticket?
In general, you can submit a new ticket by emailing firstname.lastname@example.com with the email address associated with your Compute Canada account. If you are using another email address, please provide your full name, your Compute Canada default username (if available) and your university or institution.
If you like, you can also target your inquiry more specifically, by using the following addresses to submit your ticket:
- firstname.lastname@example.com - questions specific to SHARCNET, for example relating to older SHARCNET systems such as orca
- email@example.com -- Questions about Globus file transfer services
- firstname.lastname@example.com -- Questions about using Compute Canada cloud resources
- email@example.com -- Questions about Compute Canada accounts
- firstname.lastname@example.com -- Questions about Compute Canada account renewals
I am new to parallel programming, where can I find quick references at SHARCNET?
SHARCNET has a number of training modules on parallel programming using MPI, OpenMP, pthreads and other frameworks. Each of these modules has working examples that are designed to be easy to understand while illustrating basic concepts. You may find these along with copies of slides from related presentations and links to external resources on the Main Page of this training/help site.
I am new to parallel programming, can you help me get started with my project?
Absolutely. We will be glad to help you from planning the project, architecting your application programs with appropriate algorithms and choosing efficient tools to solve associated numerical problems to debugging and analyzing your code. We will do our best to help you speed up research. If your programming project would involve a significant staff time, you should consider applying for Dedicated Programming support. (We run the competition annually; see https://www.sharcnet.ca/my/research/programming).
Can you install a package on a cluster for me?
Certainly. We suggest you make the request by sending e-mail to firstname.lastname@example.com with the specific request.
I am in a process of purchasing computer equipment for my research, would you be able to provide technical advice on that?
If you tell us what you want, we may be able to help you out.
Does SHARCNET provide any training on programming and using the systems?
Yes. SHARCNET provides workshops on specific topics from time to time and offers courses at some sites. Every summer (usually late May to early June), SHARCNET holds an annual HPC Summer School with a variety of in-depth, hands-on workshops. Many materials from past workshops/presentations can be found on the SHARCNET's web portal.
SHARCNET also offers a series of online seminars (so-called "General interest webinars"), typically delivered every second Wednesday at lunch time. These are announced via the SHARCNET events mailing list and one can see the schedule at the SHARCNET event calendar. Past seminars are recorded and posted on our youtube channel. A full listing of the past webinars is available on the Online Seminars page.
Attending SHARCNET Webinars
SHARCNET makes a number of seminar events available online (New User Webinar, general interest talks, etc.) using Zoom. Zoom can be used by either installing an app (available for Windows, Mac, Linux etc), or running it in a browser (no installation required). A (free) Zoom account is required for attending our webinars. Since July 2020 our webinars require registration. The registration link is provided on the event page in our Events calendar, https://www.sharcnet.ca/my/news/calendar .
Please note that if your device has a microphone (highly recommended) and/or webcam, they will be used by Zoom to transmit your audio and video to all seminar participants. They are normally off by default, but you can enable them by clicking on a corresponding button at the bottom of your Zoom window - but only when allowed by the host. Normally we do not allow attendees to use their mikes during the webinar, but we have special time for questions and answers at the end of each webinar when the mikes can be enabled. Generally, please keep your mike muted (and webcam disabled) unless you want to ask a question.
We normally record our seminars, and make them available to all SHARCNET users. The recordings are posted on our youtube channel, http://youtube.sharcnet.ca . The links to the video recordings, slides and abstracts can be found on our online seminars page.
Please note that times for our webinars are for the Eastern Time (EST/EDT) zone.
Unsubscribing from our mailing lists
To remove yourself from our Events mailing list, please follow these instructions:
- Go to https://mail.sharcnet.ca/mailman/listinfo/events (you can find this link at
the bottom of our Events emails);
- At the bottom of that page, enter your email into empty field, and press the button
"Unsubscribe or edit options";
- On the next page, click on the "Unsubscribe" button;
- You will receive a confirmation email; click on the link there to finalize the removal
Research at SHARCNET
I have a research project I would like to collaborate on with SHARCNET, who should I talk to?
You may contact SHARCNET head office or contact members of the SHARCNET technical staff.
Most people's research is "bursty" - there are usually sparse periods of time when some computation is urgently needed, and other periods when there is less demand. One problem with this is that if you purchase the equipment you need to meet your "burst" needs, it'll probably sit, underutilized, during other times.
An alternative is to donate control of this equipment to SHARCNET, and let us arrange for other users to use it when you are not. We prefer to be involved in the selection and configuration of such equipment. Our promise to contributors is that as much as possible, they should obtain as much benefit from the cluster as if it were not shared. Owners get preferential access. Naturally, owners are also able to burst to higher peak usage, since their equipment has been pooled with other contributions. (Technically, SHARCNET cannot itself own such equipment — it remains owned by the institution in question, and will be returned to the contributor upon request.) If you think this model will also work for you and you would like to contribute your computational resource to help the research community at SHARCNET, you can contact us for such arrangement.
I do not know much about computation, nor is it my research interest. But I am interested in getting my research done faster with the help of the high performance computing technology. In other words, I do not care about the process and mechanism, but only the final results. Can SHARCNET provide this type of help?
We will be happy to bring the technology of high performance computing to you to accelerate your research, if at all possible. If you would like to discuss your plan with us, please feel free to contact our high performance computing specialists. They will be happy to listen to your needs and are ready to provide appropriate suggestions and assistance.
I need access to more CPU cores or storage than are available by default, what programs exist to support demanding computation?
SHARCNET participates in the Compute Canada NRAC (National Resource Allocation Competition) and provides a continual competition for groups that require more than the default level of access to our resources. Please see Dedicated Resources for further information.
I heard SHARCNET offers fellowships, where can I get more information?
SHARCNET no longer actively runs a fellowship program. You may find information regarding past fellowships and other dedicated resource opportunities on the Research Fellowships page of the web portal.
I would like to do some research at SHARCNET as a visiting scholar, how should I apply?
In general, you will need to find a hosting department or a person affiliated with one of the SHARCNET institutions. You may also contact us directly for more specific information.
I would like to send my students to SHARCNET to do some work for me. How should I proceed?
See above.
Contacting SHARCNET
How do I contact SHARCNET for research, academic exchanges, and technical issues?
Please contact SHARCNET head office.
How do I contact SHARCNET for business development, education and other issues?
Please contact SHARCNET head office.
How do I contact a specific staff member at SHARCNET?
See staff directory for contact information.
How to Acknowledge SHARCNET in Publications
How do I acknowledge SHARCNET in my publications?
We recommend one cite the following:
This work was made possible by the facilities of the Shared Hierarchical Academic Research Computing Network (SHARCNET:www.sharcnet.ca) and Compute/Calcul Canada.
I've seen different spellings of the name, what is the standard spelling of SHARCNET?
We suggest the spelling SHARCNET, all in upper case.
What types of research programs / support are provided to the research community?
Our overall intent is to provide support that can both respond to the range of needs that the user community presents and help to increase the sophistication of the community and enable new and larger-in-scope applications making use of SHARCNET's HPC facilities. The range of support can perhaps best be understood in terms of a pyramid:
Level 1
At the apex of the pyramid, SHARCNET supports a small number of projects with dedicated programmer support. The intent is to enable projects that will have a lasting impact and may lead to a "step change" in the way research is done at SHARCNET. Inter-disciplinary and inter-institutional projects are particularly welcomed. For the latest information about the program, including application guidelines, please see the Programming Competition page in our web portal.
Level 2
The middle layers of support are provided through a number of initiatives.
These include:
- Programming support of more modest duration (several days to one month engagement, usually part time)
- Training on a variety of topics through workshops, seminars and online training materials
- Consultation. This may include user-initiated interactions on particular programs, algorithms, techniques, debugging, optimization etc., as well as unsolicited help to ensure effective use of SHARCNET systems
- Site Leaders play an important role in working with the community to help researchers connect with SHARCNET staff and to obtain appropriate help and support.
Level 3
The base level of the pyramid handles the very large number of small requests that are essential to keeping the user community working effectively with the infrastructure on a day-to-day basis. Several of these can be answered by this FAQ; many of the issues are presented through the ticketing system. The support is largely problem oriented with each problem being time limited.


text:
Laurel Touby
This story appears in the February 2002 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
Description: An online and offline community for media and creative professionals (think Monster.com, but for the media set)
Start-Up: Zilch--"I begged everyone to do things for me for free."
Sales: Won't reveal specifics, but the site boasts 37,000 members.
In Denial: Touby first experienced success as a freelance business writer and contributing editor for Glamour. Then, in 1993, she began throwing soirees to unite the faceless names of the media, quickly became a much-recognized face and erected Mediabistro.com. "I tried to ignore it the first two years I put it up. Then the Internet shook me out of my sleep in 1999, and I realized this was something big, it wasn't going away, and I was already part of it."
The Groundwork: "It's a big challenge maintaining a personalized site and creating something professional as well. It's a constant balancing of the needs of people using the site and coming to the parties [networking events for media people] with the needs of a small, growing company." To keep herself balanced, Touby, a college track runner, sprints once a week with a coach.
Awakenings: Although she was an economics major, Touby says she sort of "got tracked into" business writing. "I didn't think business was interesting until I started my own company. It was then that I realized how interesting and creative it could be."


text:
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text:
The hits just keep on coming for Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom.
The troubled couple was the subject of more speculation this weekend, after Odom allegedly went missing, and Kardashian was unable to get hold of him for 72 hours, TMZ.com reports.
Fall TV Preview: The biggest cast shakeups
However, Odom's agent, Jeff Schwartz, refuted the story on Monday. "Lamar is not missing. His wife knows exactly where he is," Schwartz told ESPN.com. "Playing in the NBA is still very much a part of Lamar's plans."
An unnamed source told ESPN.com that Odom is currently at a Los Angeles-area hotel, and his friends are trying to get him help for an "unspecified drug problem."
Celebrities who've survived scandal
Kardashian reportedly threw her husband out of their house Wednesday after trying to stage an intervention, TMZ.com reported. An earlier TMZ report claimed that Odom had been battling an addiction to crack cocaine for more than two years, and that his drug use is "the principal cause of the crisis in his marriage to Khloe Kardashian."
Neither Odom nor Kardashian has officially commented on the reports; however, Kardashian tweeted Sunday afternoon: "Really hard to sit here and listen to people talk sh-- about my family! F--- you and shame on you! I'm too protective for this sh--!"
Although Kardashian had been photographed without her wedding ring last week, X17.com photographed the reality star on Monday with her ring.


text:
Always a favorite hobby, poker has become something more to me now that I'm in my late seventies. It's the one competitive activity I can still do with men and women a third my age. Can't do it in sports -- in golf, the only sport I can still play without tearing myself apart, I have to use the senior tees. Can't do it professionally -- I'm retired from all that. Only in poker can I still sit down with 20-, 30-, 40-, 50-, and 60-year-olds and match wits for hours in a contest whose criterion for success or failure is wonderfully clear: when I get up from the table, have I won their money, or have they won mine? All serious poker players know this is what finally counts.
But they also know they'll often lose. So much of the game depends on luck (I'd say about eighty percent) that everyone who regularly plays accepts losing as an unavoidable fact of poker life. For me, the key to managing loss is limiting how much I let myself lose in a single day -- two hundred bucks. This past weekend I was careless. On Friday, at the newly-opened poker room in Perryville, Maryland, I won $200, then came back Sunday and lost that $200 plus $200 more. I've kicked myself ever since for not quitting when that first $200 went missing.
On the other hand, if your cards are good you ought to take advantage of them as long as the run lasts and stop only when you're sure it's over. Two weeks ago during Easter weekend I played on Good Friday at the Delaware Park poker room, had an exceptional run, and quit when my winnings throttled back from over $700 to $600. Two days later, Easter Sunday, I played again, this time at Perryville, and by following the same plan came away with $400 more. The Perryville win doubtless helped me lose there this past weekend, encouraging me to overplay several hands I normally fold and to drop that Sunday $400. Winning can make you do that until losing clears your head and sobers you up. The only comfort I take from the Sunday loss is that it suggests my Easter win the weekend before was probably not the result of divine intervention. (Here follow circa 1500 words explaining the no-limit poker I always play and how compatible it is philosophically with my atheistic materialism. The complete text, originally posted 4/27/13 on my personal blog, can be viewed by clicking here onto: [consolationsofatheism.blogspot.com])
Views: 895
Your universe is a scary place. We can be obliterated any moment by asteriods or a giant solar flare.
Being rational, being a humanist, living this life to its fullest because it is the only one you have, is much more comforting that the thought that there's some god-daddy who willfully puts his subjects through the crap this world and its inhabitants have been through - and then claim that this same deity "loves us".
If that's love, I'll take hate.
Oh, and if believing means that you also believe that humans, at their very core, are evil, then that is a cold and depressing way to view your fellow humans. Me? I believe in the inherent good, worth, and dignity of all humans, and that "evil" is an aberration, not the norm.
Furthermore, if by extension this means that the only reason a "believer" good and moral is from fear of this god-daddy deity - then what a sad, petty, shallow person a believer must be. I know that my family and I are good because of our own self-motivation and sense of worth (and aforementioned belief in the inherent worth and dignity of others), not because of fear.
No, I'll take this life, this here-and-now, and I will make the most of it. I will be the best person I can be, and by extension I will try to make the lives of those around me better; and I'll do all of this because it is the right thing to do - period.
the universe shows no purpose, provides no comfort
Neither physical nature nor human nature demonstrate anything about a superordinate, supernatural realm populated by creators or law givers. Nor is nature "God".
Nature is silent. There is no concept of truth in nature. There is no concept of morality in nature. There are no concepts whatsoever in nature. Nature knows nothing.
Nature is neither meaningful nor meaningless. Neither a source of comfort (natural theology) nor a source of despair (existentialism). Both are rooted in the same mistaken presupposition that supernatural meaning can be found by searching the heavens for gods or quarrying human inwardness for moral laws.
• Instead, religions belong to cultures embedded in nature. And cultures are our distinctive human-all-too-human handiwork. Religions are obsolete, unnecessary cultural artifacts.
the anti_supernaturalist
Wow. You are a regular Jack Lalanne. I enjoyed reading this.
I am way confused. Why does it seem that many, many of us responded to this last year - to an obviously different topic - yet this was posted 08 APR 2012?
And now again, brand new topic on December 3 2012, but there are comments--totally irrelevant to this post--back from 2011....
hey Richard! you coming to our meet-up the 21st?!
I think if the original poster edits the post and saves it, it gets re-posted with the previous comments intact.
Diane? With the date changed?
Hmmm... I should experiment on one of mine.
So I guess this guy has found a cheap way to post over and over again.


text:
Statement from DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp on Governor's Deer Management Budget Initiatives
Today Gov. Walker announced initiatives funded in the state budget to provide the Department of Natural Resources with tools necessary to implement the 2012 Deer Trustee Report.
The initiatives include establishing a Deer Management Assistance Program (D-MAP); investing in new technology to better assess land cover; creating a fee system to fund surveillance and increase public access to CWD testing; and developing emergency rules enabling a portion of implementation to begin for the 2013 deer season.
In response to the announcement, DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp issued the following statement:
Gov. Walker's announcement highlights the value of deer to Wisconsin. Deer hunting feeds traditions, feeds families, and feeds the economy.
Each year, hundreds of thousands of hunters, representing all states in the nation and even foreign countries, take to Wisconsin's woods and farmlands to harvest deer. We have seen an increasing number of hunters, including new youth and female hunters. We continue to rank in the top five deer hunting states in the country for total harvest, and this year the buck archery harvest broke the state's all-time record.
We have a strong base to build on, but we can always do better. One area for improvement is how we work with hunters, landowners, tribes and other partners. It is a priority of mine to improve these relationships and the initiatives in the Governor's budget are integral to doing this.
Implementation of the Deer Trustee Report will enhance how deer are managed in Wisconsin. We look forward to continuing to work with partners, tribes and stakeholders to implement the Deer Trustee Report to the fullest extent possible.
Together we can solidify Wisconsin as the state for great deer, great hunting, and great experiences.


text:
GLENDALE, Ariz., April 25 (UPI) -- Mike Smith made a pair of first-period goals stand up by stopping 34 shots Wednesday, lifting the Phoenix Coyotes to a 2-1 victory over San Jose.
A win by Detroit earlier in the evening officially ended the Coyotes' playoff hopes, but they still managed a triumph over a team that had a lot at stake.
San Jose missed a chance to move past Los Angeles into fourth place in the Western Conference standings, a position that carries with it home-ice advantage in the opening round of the playoffs.
The Sharks are tied with Los Angeles for the fourth spot, the Kings having also lost Wednesday to Detroit.
Los Angeles holds the tiebreak advantage against San Jose, but St. Louis is only a point behind both teams with two games to play.
Michael Stone and Keith Yandle both scored in the opening period for the Coyotes. The only goal against Smith came early in the second period from Brent Burns.
Thomas Greiss stopped 30-of-32 shots for the Sharks.


text:
Posts Tagged 'pictures'
Greek and Roman games are one of the little known aspects of these ancient societies.
In Hellenistic and Roman culture skill games were a recreational activity both for children and adults.
Since prehistoric times is possible to recognize the so-called ancestors of games and toys among the archeological finds and in the works of Hellenic and Romans artists and poets:
We know for sure that in the fifth century BC, Crater, an Athenian playwright, wrote a play dedicated to skill games.
In ancient Rome writer Suetonius wrote two different books one on Greek kids games, and the other on the Romans ones: unfortunately all these works got lost and we know only a few certain things about ancient Greek and Roman skill games.
A lot of references are traceable in the works of philosophers, poets, playwrights who, helped us to understand that in every ancient game there was a deep educational theory to help and support kids development through the use of their skills.
In the ancient Roman world the expression "nuces relinquere" (leave the nuts), meant leaving childhood and becoming adult, because nuts were used by kids to play one of the most popular skill game in ancient Rome . The nuts were used like balls and thrown to to smash other nuts, just like in the modern bowling game.
Read the rest of this entry »
- In: board games | Curiosities | Educational | History | Train Your Brain
- 2 Comments
The Mahjong (麻雀麻将), is a board game for four players, born in China at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and now worldwide popular, especially in United States and Japan.
Its name means "bird of hemp" or "hemp sparrow".
There are different versions about the birth of this board game, but the most legendary one tells that Mahjong board game was invented by a fisherman in China about 2500 years ago.
The story goes that a fisherman was on his boat and, during a storm, seeing his men worried and scared, he invented something to entertain them. It is said that the gods favoured the poor fisherman and inspired him the invention of a game with few pieces of wood. In a meantime, the fisherman carved the pieces with different symbols, and taught his men how to play this new board game. The crew was so interested in the game that soon forgot the storm.
The fisherman called the game Mah-Jong (hemp bird), remembering the little bird that always followed him during the fishing.
Another legend attributes the invention of the Mahjong game to the great Chinese philosopher Confucius, around 500 BC.
This story (considered false by historians) has some curious correspondence with the reality: infact the pieces of the game called the "three dragons" represent the three cardinal virtues professed by Confucius: the red Chung (Benevolence), the green Fa (Sincerity ) and the White Po (love). It is said that Confucius had a great love for birds, and for this reason called the game Mah-Jong (bird of hemp).
Many of the terms used in this board game, such as Chee and Kong, are explained with the Confucian origin of the game.
However, for historians, the Mahjong game was invented at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Some researchers sad that this game could come from the Madia (马吊) , another popular board game played in China at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty.
There are only hypothesis around the real inventor of this board game. Someone say that it was created by Chinese army officers, to pass the time during the Tai Ping Rebellion (1851-1864), others that the inventor was a noble of Shanghai between 1870 and 1875.
But we like to think that the game of Mahjong was invented either by the fisherman or by Confucius, because we're so fascinated by old stories.
- In: board games | Curiosities | Educational | History
- Leave a Comment
In 1640, a new board game called "Game of the goose" appeared for the first time.
The game of the goose was published in Venice (Italy) by Carlo Coriandoli. The first stamp of this game represents a family sitting at the table covered with food off all kind with a big roasted goose in the centre.
The name "game of the goose" probably derives from this first stamp, although many studious declare that the origin of the name comes from the particular player's habit of using the won money to buy a big goose.
Certainly the game of the goose has ancient origins, that can be tracked down in many documents recovered in ancient Egyptian tombs.
The goose game represents in a board game the eternal struggle of good vs evil: the goose must defeat evil overcoming all the obstacles of the game.
The game board of the goose game is composed by 90 coded boxes (in the ancient one they were only 63) arranged in a spiral. The aim of the goose game is to roll the two dices and get from square 1 to square 90 before the other player. Yo do this we have to be lucky enough to avid the penalty boxes.
The goose game is very simple and it doesn't request particular abilities, the player wins with the fortune of the dices.
The game of the goose spread quickly in all European countries and was really popular especially among literate and intellectuals. After several years the basic model of the game was reinvented and evolved in many different versions called with many different names during our history: the "owl game", the "war game", the "travel game", the "train game".
- In: board games | Curiosities | Educational | History
- 1 Comment
The triple wall is the pattern of the popular board game called Nine Men's Morris in England, Morabaraba in South Africa, Naukhadi in India, Molenspiel in Germany and Jeu de Moulin in France. The triple square symbol was find in Italy, UK, Ireland and Afghanistan and in a lot other regions of the Middle East engraved or painted in holy places for Christianity and Islam.
The aim of the Nine Men's Morris is to form a row of three pieces along the board's lines and leave the opposing player with no moves.
This is the playing function of this geometric concentric figure, but we can find the same pattern in ancient churches and in the Chinon tower in France, engraved on the walls by Templar Knights kept prisoners during the Middle Ages.
Some researchers suggest that this geometric draw could be the symbol of an ancient and esoteric ritual made by knights Templars.
For example, René Guénon, affirm that this symbol represent, in ancient religous rituals, a sort of holy centre where the world energies can reach the right power to involve a man's mind on a mystic level.
The origins of the triple square are still unknown but without any reasonable doubt we can say that its symbolism is related to the centre and the balance of the world and the human spheres represented by the pieces of the game have to converge to find the perfect equilibrium.
The geometric scheme of the Nine Men's Morris game represent the route that men have to follow to find themselves without lose the right way in unethical directions. In this sense the triple square has a manicheistic meanining deeply related to the Middle Ages religious symbolism.
God is the origin and the centre of all the universe and everything has to point in His direction; it's clear in this interpretation the religious and ethical meaning of this symbol directly derived from the holy circle used by ancient civilizations of the far East to show the solar wheel also called the wheel of life.
All those clues made the researchers think that the symbol of the triple square in the Middle Ages was not used as a game but as a religious symbol and only after several years this geometric pattern was used as the board of the game known with the name of Nine Men's Morris.
- In: board games | Curiosities | Educational | History | Role Games
- 3 Comments
In 1920 British archaeologist Sir Charles Leonard Woolley, during some excavations in the Royal Cemetery of Ur in Mesopotamia, found the rests of a Royal tomb full of ancient and beautiful finds.
In this mausoleum Wodley discovered several incredibly well conserved exemplars of an ancient board game.
This artefact was called the Royal Game of Ur and was made more than 2600 years before Christ:
The Royal Game of Ur is one of the oldest board game in history and is composed by two decorated boards and two different sets of seven pieces each.
This incredible piece of game's history is part of the British Museum's Mesopotamia collection and was played with pyramidal dices.
Like the Faraons' board game named Senet, the Royal Game of Ur was a race board game in which the players had to reach the other end of the board with their pieces.
This game had a mistyc power for Ancient Sumers; they believed that the dead person must play The Royal Game of Ur vs a spiritual entity in order to acess the reign of death.
This ancient Sumerian game can be played on the British Museum's Mesopotamia website.
The word advergame derives from the fusion of the words advertising and game.
Advertgames are interactive games created to broadcast commercial messages, develop the brand awareness and bring traffic to consumer oriented websites.
The advergame marketing strategy begun in USA in 1998 when the firsts advertising expert start to test an different ways to promote their partners' products.
The goal was to find a way to reach the audience and avoid the risk of annoying them with boring messages.
And the advert game was the perfect tool for this job because of its addicting and viral nature.
Was soon clear thar Advertgames can capture the target attention and create a more involved and complex relationship. In this way people remember the games and the products and advertisers push their brands.
Brand awareness, retention, brand loyalty and all the others marketing concepts shaped advergames through these Years.
Nowadays there are different advergames categories for different types of products and markets.
the most interestings are:
- Health advergames, created to reach the cosumer and built the brand equity of a pharmaceuticals industry;
- Exergames , developed to teach the children like Disney's Hig School Musical Dance Math;
- Healthy behaviour games, like the one sponsored by Anderson Cancer Centre in Huston, who ordered a 32 million dollars anti-smoking videogame.
This last category shows how advergames can be used by media educators to inform, entertain and teach.
Brand engagement leads, are you ready to get in the advert-game?